MY WOODLAND INTIMATES 



door position of trust. But unless the spring be 

 a very backward one, she enters upon her office 

 as guardian of the table d'hote quite early in 

 March, and she holds the position until late in 

 the autumn, which is the time of the window-sill 

 inn reopening. Nor is her perpetual presence 

 needed to produce the desired effect. The fact 

 that she may appear at any time seems to be recog- 

 nized by all four-footed bird enemies of the neigh- 

 borhood, and suffices to keep them at a distance. 



The little dog evidently realizes to the utmost 

 the importance of her office, for at the very men- 

 tion of danger, her beautiful eyes, so tender and 

 gazelle-like in their natural expression, assume a 

 look of sternest watchfulness; and the soft, flexi- 

 ble ears that quiver and droop so responsively at a 

 word or a glance of affection, rise to formidable 

 heights of aggressiveness and alertness when harm 

 threatens her charges. 



Sometimes she walks demurely in and out 

 among the guests, daintily sampling bits of moist- 

 ened bread (an article which, by the way, she 

 would scorn if it appeared in her own menu, but 

 for which she has a predilection at the birds' 

 table), but the little creatures heed neither her 

 coming nor her going. Again she sits down in 



